Drowning

On a summer morning in July 1915, thousands of poor factory workers lined the Chicago docks, waiting to board ships for the much anticipated annual picnic hosted by Western Electric Company. But as 2,500 passengers flooded aboard the first ship, the SS Eastland, disaster struck. The huge liner flipped onto its side, drowning more than 800 people in the filthy Chicago River, including 22 whole families.

Boise’s ethics commission next week will look into a case of a city firefighter who rescued a man from an irrigation canal, who then died several days later.

In June, Boise firefighter Brent Matthews jumped into one of the area’s biggest and fastest irrigation canals to rescue a man who had fallen in. Local TV station KTVB did a story praising Matthews for his heroism.